One Polish mountaineer dies, another missing

Pal said that Nehru Institute of Mountaineering and Polish embassy informed district administration on Tuesday about two missing mountaineers after three members returned to base camp and sounded alert about their missing companions.

A Polish mountaineer died after he fell into a crevasse in Himalaya just 300 meters from the rescue team in Uttarakhand, an official said on Friday.

“Two Polish mountaineers were reported missing for the last three days. When we were close to rescuing one of them he slipped and fell into the crevasse on Thursday evening. The other companion is missing,” said a senior police official Daddan Pal from Uttarkashi, where this incident took place.

The duo has been identified as Lukasz Chrzanowski and Grzegorz Kukurowski who were part of the five-member mountaineering expedition team to Mt Shivling which is 6,540 meters above sea level. This mountain range is close to Gaumukh – the place from where Ganga originates.

Pal said that Nehru Institute of Mountaineering and Polish embassy informed district administration on Tuesday about two missing mountaineers after three members returned to base camp and sounded alert about their missing companions.

“Rescuers were able to contact missing mountaineers through solar operated walky-talky on Wednesday. On Thursday evening when we were close to rescuing one of them he slipped and died,” the police official said.
Vishal Ranjan, of Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) said it hurts when you see a tired and dehydrated man falls to death in front of your eyes. He was very, very close to us. “He probably died of exhaustion and made some fatal mistake,” he told this correspondent on the telephone.

“What hurts is he was able to survive 72 hours without food and probably without water in sub-zero temperature and died when he was close to the rescue team,” he said.